Australia’s First Sharia Law Practitioner Takes Up Post At Melbourne Firm

The Islam Today website reports? that? Melbourne-based law firm, Logie-Smith Lanyon has hired Australia’s first sharia consultant – an imam to advise Muslim clients on how to observe Islamic legal codes alongside Australian law.

The law firm also sponsors a postgraduate degree in Islamic banking and finance at La Trobe University.

Sheikh Mohamadu Nawas Saleem? a member of the Australian National Council of Imams, will work particularly on commercial contracts and disputes between Muslims, plus separation agreements, divorces, wills and pre-nuptial agreements.

The report goes on to say

According to Hyder Gulam, a senior lawyer with the firm and a board member of the Islamic Council of Victoria, there is rising demand in Melbourne’s growing Muslim community for dispute resolution in harmony with sharia principles, as well as Islamic financial products, such as housing finance and investments.

Welcoming the appointment, he said there are a number of legal projects for the Muslim community for which Sheikh Nawas will provide his expert Islamic opinion and that many Muslims within the community have expressed their excitement that “Australian law/Shariah compliant products” would soon be available.

He added: “It’s big business. (Assistant Treasurer) Nick Sherry went to the Middle East recently to promote Australia as sharia-friendly for finance and investment.”

Commenting on Sheikh Nawas’ credentials, Gulam said: “Sheikh Nawas provides a unique expertise in his training under the common law system (as followed in Australia) and his expertise in the understanding of Shariah law.”

Sheikh Mohamadu Nawas Saleem studied Islamic law in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He earned a degree in Islamic Studies & Arabic from Jamiah Naleemiya Islamiya (Sri Lanka) in 1983.

In 1986 Sheikh Nawas won a Malaysian Government Scholarship to pursue an LLB (Hons) degree at the International Islamic University in Malaysia (IIUM). In 1992 he completed a Masters Degree in Comparative Laws (MCL) specializing in Islamic Jurisprudence and Comparative Family Law at the same university.

After ten years as a lecturer in Law at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, Sheikh Nawas then migrated to Australia where he continued his professional studies and gained a Graduate Certificate of Education (Professional Development Studies) from Monash University in 2007.

Discussing his appointment as sharia consultant, Sheikh Nawas explained that sharia is complex, drawing on both the Koran and the Hadith (authoritative sayings of the Prophet Mohammed), which together fully explain the rights of every husband and wife, parent and children.

Sheikh Nawas said most Australian Muslims did not know sharia law, but more marriages between Muslims from different communities or with non-Muslims meant more wanted to.

“We are trying to educate people so they can reduce tension in cases of separation or divorce. All these things are available under Australian law.”

“For a will, first the spouse, then the children, then the parents, then other people may come in. If families separate, children should be kept in one house rather than divided between parents, causing harm in their development,” he said.